Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) is an excellent source of protein and carbohydrates and is also rich in essential trace elements for the human diet. Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient for human health and nutrition, providing protection against several diseases and regulating important biological systems. Dietary intake of 55 μg of Se per day is recommended for adults, with inadequate Se intake causing significant health problems. The objective of this study was to identify and map quantitative trait loci (QTL) of genes controlling Se accumulation in lentil seeds using a population of 96 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) developed from the cross “PI 320937” × “Eston” grown in three different environments for two years (2012 and 2013). Se concentration in seed varied between 119 and 883 μg/kg. A linkage map consisting of 1,784 markers (4 SSRs, and 1,780 SNPs) was developed. The map spanned a total length of 4,060.6 cM, consisting of 7 linkage groups (LGs) with an average distance of 2.3 cM between adjacent markers. Four QTL regions and 36 putative QTL markers, with LOD scores ranging from 3.00 to 4.97, distributed across two linkage groups (LG2 and LG5) were associated with seed Se concentration, explaining 6.3–16.9% of the phenotypic variation.

IntroductionLentil, Lens culinaris Medic., is an important cool season food legume in the old world. It is a self-pollinated, diploid (2n = 2x = 14) with a genome size of 4063 Mbp (Arumuganathan and Earl, 1991). The origin of cultivated lentil is the

Saffron (Crocus L.) is a member of Crocoideae, the biggest of four subfamilies in the Iridaceae family. It has 2n = 3x = 24 chromosomes and is triploid; thus, it is sterile. In previous research, different molecular DNA markers were used but molecular characterization and genetic diversity of this complex genus have not yet been clarified. Therefore, current study aimed to determine the molecular characterization of saffron and its close relative species using inter-primer binding site (iPBS)-retrotransposon markers. Eighty-three iPBSretrotransposon primers were used in 28 C. sativus genotypes and 17 close relative species of saffron to identify their genetic diversity. Sixteen polymorphic iPBS-retrotransposon primers generated a total of 401 polymorphic scorable bands. The mean PIC value, Nei's genetic diversity and Shannon's information index (I) were calculated as 0.85, 0.16 and 0.29, respectively. The results of the Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic mean UPGMA dendrogram and Principal Coordinates Analysis PCoA analysis indicated a spatial representation of the relative genetic distances among 28 saffron samples and the 17 close relative species were categorized under two distinct groups. Saffron genotypes showed very limited genetic variation and according to the iPBS-retrotransposon data, its close relatives were C. cartwrightianus and C. pallasii subsp. pallasii.

This study evaluated Mn concentration in the seeds of 120 RILs of lentil developed from the cross “CDC Redberry” × “ILL7502”. Micronutrient analysis using atomic absorption spectrometry indicated mean seed manganese (Mn) concentrations ranging from 8.5 to 26.8 mg/kg, based on replicated field trials grown at three locations in Turkey in 2012 and 2013. A linkage map of lentil was constructed and consisted of seven linkage groups with 5,385 DNA markers. The total map length was 973.1 cM, with an average distance between markers of 0.18 cM. A total of 6 QTL for Mn concentration were identified using composite interval mapping (CIM). All QTL were statistically significant and explained 15.3–24.1% of the phenotypic variation, with LOD scores ranging from 3.00 to 4.42. The high-density genetic map reported in this study will increase fundamental knowledge of the genome structure of lentil, and will be the basis for the development of micronutrient-enriched lentil genotypes to support biofortification efforts.

BackgroundLentil (Lens culinaris ssp. culinaris Medikus) is a diploid (2n = 2x = 14), self-pollinating grain legume with a haploid genome size of about 4 Gbp and is grown throughout the world with current annual production of 4.9 million tonnes.Materials and methodsA consensus map of lentil (Lens culinaris ssp. culinaris Medikus) was constructed using three different lentils recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations, including “CDC Redberry” x “ILL7502” (LR8), “ILL8006” x “CDC Milestone” (LR11) and “PI320937” x “Eston” (LR39).ResultsThe lentil consensus map was composed of 9,793 DArT markers, covered a total of 977.47 cM with an average distance of 0.10 cM between adjacent markers and constructed 7 linkage groups representing 7 chromosomes of the lentil genome. The consensus map had no gap larger than 12.67 cM and only 5 gaps were found to be between 12.67 cM and 6.0 cM (on LG3 and LG4). The localization of the SNP markers on the lentil consensus map were in general consistent with their localization on the three individual genetic linkage maps and the lentil consensus map has longer map length, higher marker density and shorter average distance between the adjacent markers compared to the component linkage maps.ConclusionThis high-density consensus map could provide insight into the lentil genome. The consensus map could also help to construct a physical map using a Bacterial Artificial Chromosome library and map based cloning studies. Sequence information of DArT may help localization of orientation scaffolds from Next Generation Sequencing data.

The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the most consumed food legume in the world and is a major source of dietary protein, carbohydrates, and valuable micronutrients, especially in developing countries. Diversity Arrays Technology (DArTseq), based on genome reduction with restriction enzymes, provides a rapid, high-throughput, and cost-effective tool capable of generating thousands of genotyped single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for a genome-wide analysis of genetic diversity. In this study, we aimed to characterize common bean accessions using SNPs detected by a DArTseq approach. A total of 43,018 SNPs were identified from 173 common bean accessions, including Andean and Mesoamerican genotypes. After filtering raw and redundant data, a total of 16,366 SNPs were considered for further analyses. According to population structure analysis, the genotypes were roughly divided into 2 gene pools of Andean and Mesoamerican types. Pairwise fixation index (Fst) values were calculated to resolve the differentiation between populations. This study demonstrated that discovering SNPs from the whole genome is a potential resource for identifying naturally diverse accessions and also the information could be used in breeding programs to develop new common bean varieties.

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Introduction Walnut (Juglans regia L., 2n = 32, ~ 606 Mb per 1 C genome) is a monoecious, dichogamous, wind-pollinated, long-lived, perennial tree species belonging to the family Juglandaceae (Zhu et al., 2015). After cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) and almond [Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D. A. Webb], walnut is the third most widely planted nut tree worldwide with a global annual production (with shell) of around 2.2 × 10 6 metric tons 1. Turkey is the fourth largest walnut-producing country in the world after China, USA, and Iran 1. The kernel of walnut has a high economic impact on the food industry and is very popular and valued around the world due to its health-related, sensorial, and nutritional properties (Martinez et al., 2010). Many researchers have demonstrated the beneficial health effects of human diet supplemented by walnut due to its high protein, oil vitamin and mineral content (Dzhafarova et al., 2009; Martinez et al., 2010). Recent research also suggests that in addition to nuts, the extracts of walnut leaves have a positive impact on lipid metabolism and decrease blood sugar levels in human beings (Dzhafarova et al., 2009). On the other hand, leaves, shells, green walnuts, kernels, and bark of walnut tree have been used in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Fresh leaves of walnut are utilized for the treatment of skin inflammations, ulcers, and hyperhidrosis in the pharmaceutical industry and for their antiseptic, anthelmintic, astringent, and antidiarrheal properties in folk medicine, and dry walnut leaves are used as infusions. Additionally, green husk of walnut is the basic material for the conventional liqueur of walnut, and shells are used as a filtration medium for the separation of crude oil from water. As a result of these great health benefits and commercial importance of walnut, detection of its genetic diversity and relationships among accessions has become significant topics in studies on germplasm conservation and plant breeding (Pereira et al., 2007). In Turkey, nongrafted walnut seedlings had been used in new walnut plantations until the beginning of 1970s and commercial walnut orchards were established with